FUT 17 Team of the Week 33 Predictions

Team of the Season is almost here and with it, the final month of the top 5 league’s campaigns.

With little need for Team of the Week to incentivize pack openings in the weeks ahead, some of the stretch inclusions we’ve been acclimated to this FIFA may soon be a bit of a thing of the past.

Before we get there though, a few ground notes: I’m SB Nation’s Luke Zimmermann, a bit of a regular around these parts. You’re probably accustomed to Darren’s brilliance and highly accurate TOTW picks. Unfortunately this week, you’re stuck with me — but with a catch! Darren was kind enough to review my picks, and form a sort of composite/collaborative prediction with me (to hopefully ensure my guesses are a bit more on the respectable end). Your regularly scheduled TOTW forecasts should be back in no time at all.

Meanwhile, we start this week in the Premier League. First place Chelsea continue to inch ever closer towards a return to the highest pinnacles of Premier League glory with both striker Diego Costa and stalwart defensive back Gary Cahill laying claim to Team of the Week worthiness. Costa had a brace and an assist in a midweek tilt while Cahill added a goal and a clean sheet to his name. With the latter without a special card this FIFA, this likely 85 overall rated CB card would be a nice addition to many a PL Weekend League squads. Second place Tottenham’s outstanding Victor Wanyama gets off the schneid with respect to having an in-form after his influence in Spurs’ big North London Derby 2-0 win over Arsenal.

Over in Germany, while it wasn’t an overpowering performance the way we’re acclimated to some German keepers having, Koln’s steady Timo Horn put together an afternoon that could make him the top keeper in this week’s TOTW squad. Perhaps no one scored a more significant goal than Benjamin Hubner, whose late 90th minute header put TSG 1899 Hoffenheim into European football and clinched a Man of the Match performance for him. Halil Altintop from Augsburg and Schalke's Austrian striker Guido Burgstaller got nods in Kicker's Team of the Week and make our squad as well. The latter was the tabloid's player of the week.

La Liga has been positioning itself for as thrilling a finish as ever and unsurprisingly Atletico Madrid's always solid Saul gets a TOTW nod from us for his part. Raul Garcia's excellence also earns the Bilbao staple a spot as does Cedric Bakambu's work for Villareal. Bakambu was MARCA's MVP this past week. And in what’s sure to be a bit controversial, we’ve given Marcelo the EA-partner treatment nod for scoring the game-winner and getting Man of the Match in Madrid’s 2-1 late win over Valencia despite a not elite match rating. We’ll have to see what EA elect to do.

Finally, FIFA community legend IAmFrench will surely be thrilled Marseille's Florian Thauvin is all but a mortal lock for another special card this week. His brilliance, along with Nice's Ricardo Pereira -- playing at right midfielder as opposed to right back -- garnered both of them selection in L'Equipe's Team of the Week -- and ours as well.

As always, the Futhead Squad Builder brings us visual representation for our side. You can check out the squad here, and make sure you follow Darren, and heck, me, for all kinds of insight about TOTW, FIFA Mobile, and more.